However, fortune did not favor him, a citizen of hell.

He lingered on the hill for a while, but she was nowhere to be seen today.

‘… Should I get a little closer.’

This was always the nature of human greed.

Never knowing satisfaction, crying out for a little more, just a little more.

Even though this was the very reason he left the mansion in the first place.

He clenched his fists, trying to control his heart that wanted to run wild.

Get a grip, Ioan Pryde.

It was the principle to immediately execute a runaway slave upon discovery.

No matter how nice his clothes were or how much he hid his face with a hat, anyone would recognize him up close.

If even one of the many servants at the mansion recognized him, it would be a big problem.

Despite knowing all that, this urge to see her face just once, even from afar.

Pryde rubbed his chest painfully.

It was truly incomprehensible, this emotion that kept pushing him to the edge of a cliff like this.

‘Let’s go for today….’

Did she know that I was occasionally lingering around like this?

Part of him hoped she had no idea, while another part wished she knew a little.

Just as he was finally getting up from his spot with lingering attachment, that’s when it happened.

From the back gate of the mansion, he caught sight of someone secretly slipping out, wearing a cloak.

“… The Count?”

Although he was wearing a cloak, with his keen eyesight and senses, he could tell right away.

Indeed, how could he forget even if he tried.

The appearance of the man who whipped him every day?

“Who dares to ignore me! Who! If only I had the power… If only I could have more of ‘that’…!”

That distorted face, shouting in a frenzy while wielding the whip.

“… Dressed like that, where is he going?”

He was always dressed in ridiculously flashy clothes and jewels, as if trying to hide his inferiority complex.

Pryde, who was watching the Count hurriedly moving his feet somewhere, soon lowered his head with a miserable expression.

“Indeed, why am I concerned about such things.”

There’s no need for hell to worry about heaven.

Another self inside him shouted loudly.

She will marry the excellent Leonard and live happily.

She has already forgotten the likes of you and is living well!

“……”

But this time too, his body moved first, contrary to his heart.

Using the skills he learned while handling requests haphazardly over the past two years, he skillfully hid his presence and followed the Count.

The place the Count headed to was an ordinary-looking bookstore located in District 2.

However, the size of the bookstore was too small compared to the visible building area.

‘… It means there’s a hidden space behind the bookshelves.’

And no matter how much of a secret space without windows, there should be a ventilation fan for air circulation.

These were also facts he had learned while rolling around in Lanchis.

He displayed marvelous skills and quickly climbed onto the roof of this one-story building.

‘Bingo.’

There was a small ventilation shaft located at the back of the bookstore.

He erased his presence, carefully approached, and leaned his ear over that hole.

“The Grand Duke of Kenepic is dead.”

“… Yet he still died in the end.”

“Of course. The lifespan of humans cannot be defied. Did you forget that even the woman God loved could not escape death?”

Pryde, who was listening while holding his breath, furrowed his brow.

‘… What are they talking about?’

The incomprehensible conversations continued.

“Finally, at last…! The contractor’s position is vacant.”

“Who will the devil choose as the contractor this time?”

“Damn it. If only I knew the exact method to make a contract with him…!”

“The Emperor surely knows, but he won’t tell us at all.”

Devil?

Contractor?

Was it a story for noble folks that he couldn’t understand?

Indeed, he shouldn’t have intruded on a subject beyond him.

Even though he couldn’t understand their conversation.

‘What the hell is this.’

Just as Pryde was about to carefully raise his body with a bitter smile, that’s when it happened.

“… However, according to a legend circulating in the northern region of District 3, this one thing seems certain. You have to abandon your humanity.”

“Hmm… In that case, for example…”

The Count’s voice traveled through the vent and struck his ear.

“… Killing a relative, would that be enough?”

He stopped moving for a moment.

The Count had only one child.

His goddess, his saint.

No one else but Delphine Pembrook.

“That daughter? … Didn’t you say you would offer her to the imperial family to obtain the black crystal again?”

“That damn crystal!”

The Count’s excited voice echoed through the vent.

“How much do I have to beg the Emperor to get just one of those! But, but if I can make a contract with the devil…”

Pryde’s hands began to tremble.

His heart had been pounding so hard it hurt from the moment he heard the Count’s shocking remarks.

The Count, who had brutally whipped him but never laid a hand on his own daughter.

He was trying to kill her.

Pryde lightly jumped down from the building’s roof without making a sound and landed.

Then he started running somewhere.

He still had no idea what they were talking about in their conversation.

But this one thing was crystal clear.

‘I have to protect her.’

He had to protect her, his saint.

… But how?

He stopped dead in his tracks as if paralyzed.

Even if he knew of the Count’s scheme, how could he stop him?

He was a Count of this empire, and he was a runaway slave without even a status?

“……”

His body and mind crumbled as if the fortress he had endured for so long was collapsing.

His ten fingers scratching the ground while crouching left long bloodstains on the surface.

Even though he knew she was in danger, was he supposed to just watch idly?

His world, his everything, was going to meet a miserable death at the hands of her own father?

It felt as if his whole body was being torn to shreds by sorrow.

Living as a miserable commoner in this empire was always painful, but he had never resented his status as much as this.

Clutching his heart that felt like it would burst, Pryde groaned in agony like a beast.

‘Please, please….’

If only I could protect her, if only I could do that, I…

− If you could?

That’s when he heard the voice.

As if it had risen from hell below the earth, or as if it had descended from heaven above.

Or as if it was heard from within himself, not from outside.

But at that moment, the source of the voice was of no importance to him.

− If you could protect her? What you desire most. If I give you that, what can you give me in return?

Ioan was silent for a moment.

Then he soon replied.

“Anything.”

What the devil proposed as the condition for the contract was a thousand lives.

Don’t kill innocent humans.

That was the principle, but he had nothing to hide in front of her.

There was no time.

He had to finish everything before the Count could sacrifice her.

The place he chose with his last conscience was Netherfield Street.

He killed all those who came as customers to the place where his mother used to work.

Based on his experience of carrying out requests in Lanchis for the past two years, he willingly became a blonde devil.

“Y-you, what… Argh!”

One by one.

With each slit throat, covered in blood, his already blurred humanity gradually faded.

The lives that perished with a single swing of his blade were just as futile.

“W-why, why are you doing this! What did I do wrong… Argh!”

Indeed.

Why, why am I doing this?

The only thing that remained in his increasingly hazy reason was the desire he harbored.

To protect her.

His most earnest desire.

Thus, the moment he finally beheaded the thousandth sacrifice, the devil’s whisper was heard once more.

− I shall grant you the power to place this empire beneath your feet. … The price is your soul, having finally achieved your most earnest desire.

The devil added in a very small whisper.

− Someday, I will surely take it.

Delphine.

… My saint.

Feeling the powerful strength rising throughout his body, he closed his eyes.

No tears flowed.

I will eventually go from this hell to another hell.

But even so, I hope you will live in heaven forever.

Even though I have fallen so low, even though I no longer have a soul to offer you.

Still, I will come to you.

To protect you.

To fulfill my most earnest desire.

The first place he headed to after obtaining the devil’s power was the Pembrook mansion.

“Y-you…”

“What a pity.”

The slave he used to whip had gained the power he had always wanted instead.

Pryde looked down impassively at the Count, who was so shocked he might faint at his sudden appearance.

He was a man he had hated and resented so much.

Strangely, even looking at him now, there was no disturbance in his heart.

To feel such human emotions, his heart had already crossed a distant river.

The Count was just the thousandth human.

Who had become his sacrifice.

Pryde raised his hand indifferently.

Crunch.

The head of the man who had tormented him so much, yet was also the father of the woman he loved, fell to the floor.

Blood splashing up to the ceiling.

“Kyaaaaaaaah−!”

At that moment, hearing the scream from behind him, he slowly turned his head while casually wiping the blood off his sword.

Beautiful emerald-colored eyes came into view.

The eyes he wanted to protect even if it meant selling his soul, the eyes of the one he loved endlessly.